Olivia Dunham Will Kick Your Ass

The show opens with Olivia being held captive by five men in a secluded lab down by the docks. Yes, it’s a typical kidnapping with guys in masks and her being tied down to a gurney. What’s not typical is the female in distress, Olivia in this case, kicking, punching and shooting her way out. Yup, Olivia opens up this episode with quite the can of whoop-ass, check out what she does next after the jump.

What impresses me even more is not only does she get the hell out of there, but she has the sense to grab a few blood vials, the kidnappers keys to their car and a jacket, you know in case its chilly outside. It must be the FBI agent in her. She calls Broyles and lets him know of her whereabouts, but before anyone can show up she hides the vials in a dirt heap away from the lab.

Then things hit the fan, expecting to be greeted by the team Broyles is supposed to be sending, she is met by agents who are pointing guns at her face. Still in her fight anyone in sight mode, Olivia tries to make a run for it. All of a sudden she’s in slow motion, the effect of a tranquilizer hitting her causes her to fall .. slowly.. Its okay to laugh at this, I did.

She wakes up hours later, to find herself in Boston Hospital, face to face with Mr. Harris. Olivia is as feisty as ever, especially when she finds out that Mr. Harris will be reviewing the Fringe division. A man with a vendetta for doing him wrong will now be the one measuring her sanity and once he points out the finer points of her life, such as; John the traitor, Peter the criminal, and Walter the lunatic, we know this isn’t going to go well.

So it’s hard to imagine that anything can possibly make Olivia smile at this point. Then the arrival of Olivia sister, Rachel and niece totally prove me wrong. The family dynamic is cheery with hugs, presents and blowing kisses. So why do I feel like something is about to totally go wrong? I guess we will find out if I my suspicion is right, since Rachel and her daughter will be staying with Olivia for the time being.

Olivia determined to find out what her kidnappers wanted with her, ignores Mr. Harris and his threats. She picks up Peter and Walter and takes them to where sh buried the blood vials. So it seems that during the hiatus, Walter has made a lab on the go box. They don’t even have to take the vieals to the Harvard lab, they just put it in the lab to go box, in the back of the car and wahla they have their answers.

Then a phone call from Broyles totally turns this case into something bigger and grosser. I wouldn’t expect anything less. The team investigates the murder of an epidemiologist (someone who studies epidemics). While he lectured in a hall full of students, the professor took a sip of water and then fell to the ground ,as he was being suffocated from a parasite that escaped from his mouth moments later. The parasite escaped into the room. Peter, Olivia and Walter tag teamed it and took it back to the lab.

Sure enough the evidence that Olivia stole from her captors is one in the same as the parasite that killed the professor. Her investigation also finds out that another scientist maybe in trouble. She is able to bring him to headquarters to keep him safe. That is until Mitch, Yes, Mitch Loeb, the wolf wearing sheep’s clothing, the same Mitch who was wearing the mask, as he put a spinal tap through Olivia’s back at the beginning of the episode, is the same Mitch who hand delivers the scientist a deathly glass of water. Needless to say the Scientist falls to his death from being suffocated by the parasite. How does he die so quickly? Peter tells Olivia that the yellow powder put into water is activated by stomach acid, once the liquid is ingested. The parasite is after all a cold super-sized.

Mitch in his smugness totally blows his cover. Olivia recognizes his shoes and the pieces all fall together from there. Unable to investigate him directly Olivia asks Charlie for help, who then asks Peter for help. Thank goodness too because Olivia in her need to get evidence in order to prove Mitch is the one who kidnap her, gets herself into a precarious position at the Loeb residence. Mrs. Loeb and Olivia pretty much have a stare down over the kitchen table. Olivia tells her that she’s investigating her husband, then she asks to use the bathroom. Mrs. Loeb calls her husband and he gives her strict order to kill Olivia, it’s the only choice they have. Little did they know that Peter on the behalf of Charlie has put a wire tap on the Loeb’s phone and hears their little plan. He quickly hangs up and calls Olivia, alerting her of the threat on her life. After a little cat and mouse game between the women, it swiftly turns into a game of who can pull the trigge faster. Olivia can. She shoots Mrs. Loeb right between the eyes.

Mitch no knowing that his wife is dead answers her text message and meets her at a phone booth in the commons. He is surrounded by FBI and taken into custody. Of course Olivia gets a good punch in before they haul him off.

In the interrogation room Olivia tries to press Mitch for why he would kill the two scientists and kidnap her. All he does is request to see his wife. After Mitch continues to be a brick wall, Olivia finally gives Mitch what he wants, his wife, but in the form of a picture, the bullet between her eyes her most prominent feature. She then throws it in his face that she was the one to pull the trigger. This sends Mitch into a fit and he finally answers her. Just not in the way she was expecting. Mitch admits to killing the scientists and then he goes into a rampage of how he tried to save Olivia, not kidnap her. That they were going to let her go but she had to ruin the plan. That the war between the two sides is on and the shot they had in order to come out on top, was blown thanks to her.

Instead of being happy with the case being closed, the words of madman Mitch only make Olivia worry and ask more questions. Peter and Walter try to comfort her and ask her to let it go. But then if you have been watching this show, you already know that she won’t let it go. She will just use her pent up anger and confusion to kick someone else around in the next episode. Sweet!